October 2, 1998

(Revised Jan, 2017 - format change only)

Hi stalwart fans. It's the diaries again. There's been a gap because I actually had to go to work. Too bad, I was getting used to the house-husband thing.

Today's story concerns looking for a place to live. The good, the bad and the unfinished.

Our process was to use a real estate agent named Nadia. Good English. Good recommendations. In the final analysis, she has exceeded all our expectations. (We'd probably be on the street without her.)

Three weeks ago, we gave her our price range for rentals ($1,500 to $2,000 per month for those of you that are REALLY nosey). We were assured this was an adequate budget -- but people do spend 2 or 3 times this for "Western" apartments. Ouch!

Nadia put together a list of 5 apartments. The first two were in the same building. The first, which we called the French-Ukraine-Boroque unit was almost OK. Wonderful view, interesting furniture (Pict #2) and barely enough room. The second apartment was "almost" remodeled, had the same view(almost) but was way too small. Besides, the building was OLD (100=150 years) and a bit scary.

Apartment #3 had a great view  but really weird decoration and finishing. Here's Marianne looking at the kitchen (middle) asking why the oven wasn't in the hole under the cook top. Or anywhere. No real good answer. On to the next candidate. #4 was an old building, small rooms, busy street and vintage decoration.

The final apartment was cheapest, closest to Marianne's school, lots of storage and a good size. It even had a nice kitchen. That's the good news. The bad news is that all the storage was stuffed - tools, clothes, books, pickled tomatoes, etc., etc. It wasn't clear the owner COULD make good on his promise to clean it all out. And the cat smell was overpowering. So much for renting.

Then we shifted to possible purchases. The company had talked about buying and we thought we'd investigate. Nadia made another list. One of the first ones we saw was an unfinished refurbishment (they're called "remonts" here) of an old building very near our current apartment and the school. We fell in love with the potential (all new, custom finished, close to school) and the view. Of course the bedroom still needed work and the porch did seem to be hanging a zillion feet in the air. But we thought it was our dream "loft". We looked at several other places but none compared to our not-quite-done penthouse. 

I almost got fired over it. I told my boss we wanted to buy, if the company would finance (mortgages are unknown here. It's cash and keys only), At first he was positive so we got our hopes up (and started furnishing it!) Then he got sane advice and changed his mind. We were most upset. Marianne would have throttled him if he were less than 5,000 miles away. I didn't want to be unemployed in Ukraine so I said "OK". (2017:Ironically, within two years we would have bought and remodeled a place just across the street.  And I was not fired.)

We looked at a few more places, large (=expensive), small and in between. Finally, we picked one of the First Five. Stay tuned.